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In 1987, Joy White (Heather-Claire Nortey) is a teenage mom freshly met with the difficulties of motherhood. She’s accompanied by her teenage husband Carl (Eli Goree), who is by her side ready to help. Together they give birth to their daughter Carlina at a harlem hospital. Not too far, Ann Pettway (Aunjanue Ellis) is feeling hopeless since she has recently suffered from a late-term miscarriage for the third time. When Joy brings Carlina to the hospital a few weeks later because of a fever, a scheming Pettway, who was disguised as a nurse trying to find herself a baby, encourages the young mom to go home and rest. The authorities were quickly alerted to the situation, but it was too late. Now, instead of doing the right thing, Pettway had already chosen a name for the infant, Netty. And once she sat down for dinner, the milk cartons with Carlina’s photo on them were set on the kitchen table. The family assumed that the new cute addition to their family was indeed Nettie, even when disguised as their own.
Regardless of how miserable the couple is, Joy and Carl never stop looking for their daughter. With that same energy, over the years, the couple continuously looked for Carlina, but at some point important things started to shift and their relationship fell apart instead. Pettway An inconsistent and erratic drug-using parent, at her best moment is a volatile, but caring parent.
At 16, Netty, or Carlina as she is known as in the story (Keke Palmer), becomes pregnant, however, in order to get prenatal care she would need her social security and birth certificates, neither of which Pettway is able to provide. Pettway complicates the birth certificate puzzle with other strange accounts of her so-called finding Netty as a baby on her doorstep. Eventually it does take a lot of digging, but ultimately, Joy, Carl, and their daughter are found together after 23 years and DNA proves she is indeed the lost Carlina. However, after living a lie for so long, Netty has trouble accepting the truth.
Elizabeth Hunter has written a chilling story of a tragic crime that addresses the sad susceptible nature of human beings without sounding didactic. Stories like these are deeply sensational, especially in a reality-television world, but Hall avoids the reality-show-style DNA-results circus and centers on the aftermath instead.
Ellis is an example of an actor who definitely exceeds playing the stereotypical victim role/character, as she delivers a blast range performance that is more than just a single-dimensional villain. In a similar way, Sherri Shepherd as adult Joy aptly puts it all together with a combination of strength, love, fury, and deep sadness. Palmer, however, completes the impressive cast as the emotionally shattered Netty/Carlina. They’re all deep, flawed, wounded and confused, and incredibly real.
In the end, this story is definitely a ripped from the headlines story, and it is evident that the ink is barely dry on the caught papers, which makes it feel slightly incomplete. Maybe in order to overcompensate for that, Lifetime is showing real interviews with the counterparts in ‘Beyond The Headlines: Carlina White’ after the film’s premiere.
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